: This article proposes an advanced java-based simulation tool developed in order to support decision making in a manufacturing system operating in the hazelnuts industry sector. By providing the user with high flexibility in terms of manufacturing scenarios definition, the simulation tool can be used as an advanced decision-making tool to understand the dynamic interactions between multiple performance measures (that include both production lines and inventory system performances) and a set of user-defined factors (the latter defined by the production manager according to his/her needs in terms of manufacturing scenarios investigation). To understand how the simulation model can be used as decision-making tool and for testing the tool effectiveness, simulation results analyses and analytical meta-models are provided for different manufacturing scenarios.

The papers in this special section focus on modeling and simulation in disaster and emergency management. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has wrought damage globally to a degree that is totally unprecedented in human history.Within three months that the first known death from the illness caused by the so-called novel Coronavirus was reported by state media in China on the 11th of January 2020, close to 1.8 million people worldwide had tested positive, with more than 100,000 deaths reported. By the time the pandemic will have been declared to be under control, millions more are expected to have been infected and tens (possibly hundreds) of thousands more will have perished as a result of the disease. Not only are the numbers of COVID-19 infected people and deaths staggering. Economies throughout the world have suffered tremendously, with many companies forced to shut down, or at the very least significantly scale down, their production of goods and services as a result of the need for social distancing and self-isolation required to prevent the unmitigated transmission of the disease. All this has led to hundreds of millions worldwide losing their employment or other sources of livelihood. Governments of all nations, large and small, developed and underdeveloped, have needed to pump into their economy and onto their struggling citizens whatever financial resources they could manage to generate.

Being competitive in today’s global business environment requires an even higher productivity, quality, flexibility and service levels in the perspective of the new era of industrial systems based on an augmented knowledge. As a result, many companies have focused their attention on better management of their asset and equipment. In this perspective, some factories have turned to Lean Management guidelines, while others, have tried to become “smart”, following the principles of Industry 4.0 paradigm. Although a positive correlation has been established between them, the integration of lean practices and Industry 4.0 remains an open question that needs to be further explored and analyzed. The paper will give a contribute to the topic, investigating this relation within asset management perspective. In particular, a 4.0 solution will be used to evaluate if and to what extent Industry 4.0 is able to implement the lean principles of Poka- Yoke. The developed tool will prove its effectiveness in solving problems related to the maintenance record management of a firm.